Saifullah Sani
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The effort to keep Middle East peace talks alive has pushed the U.S. to consider doing what once was unthinkable: freeing convicted spy Jonathan Pollard.
Three decades before Edward Snowden shocked the world by exposing U.S. electronic spying tactics, a 31-year-old naval intelligence analyst based in Washington stunned the American government when he was discovered passing thousands of pages of classified documents to Israel.
The passage of time, Pollard’s reported ill health and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s desire to save peace talks from a potential collapse all have combined to make Pollard’s release a possibility. Freedom for Pollard, who was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison, has been discussed by Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a U.S. official who wasn’t authorized to be named.
Another official familiar with the talks said the deal under discussion would see Pollard, 59, freed before the Passover holiday on April 14, while Israel in return would expand a previously agreed Palestinian prisoner release to include an additional 400 people.
President Barack Obama “has not made a decision to release Jonathan Pollard,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters yesterday, while acknowledging “there are a lot of things happening in that arena.”
Under federal sentencing guidelines in effect at the time of Pollard’s conviction, he’s scheduled to be released on Nov. 21, 2015, pending a final review by the U.S. Parole Commission, said Chris Burke, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Cold War Spy Scandal Revived by Middle East Talks - Businessweek
Three decades before Edward Snowden shocked the world by exposing U.S. electronic spying tactics, a 31-year-old naval intelligence analyst based in Washington stunned the American government when he was discovered passing thousands of pages of classified documents to Israel.
The passage of time, Pollard’s reported ill health and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry’s desire to save peace talks from a potential collapse all have combined to make Pollard’s release a possibility. Freedom for Pollard, who was convicted in 1987 and sentenced to life in prison, has been discussed by Kerry and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a U.S. official who wasn’t authorized to be named.
Another official familiar with the talks said the deal under discussion would see Pollard, 59, freed before the Passover holiday on April 14, while Israel in return would expand a previously agreed Palestinian prisoner release to include an additional 400 people.
President Barack Obama “has not made a decision to release Jonathan Pollard,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters yesterday, while acknowledging “there are a lot of things happening in that arena.”
Under federal sentencing guidelines in effect at the time of Pollard’s conviction, he’s scheduled to be released on Nov. 21, 2015, pending a final review by the U.S. Parole Commission, said Chris Burke, a spokesman for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Cold War Spy Scandal Revived by Middle East Talks - Businessweek
